Lympsham & Belvedere claimed a convincing 82-run win over Bridgwater thirds to move away from the Somerset League Premier drop zone.

Put into bat, they saw Dave Luff and George Nuttycombe put away anything loose in a fine opening stand.

But Luff (31) was trapped leg before by Tim Hill, who bowled Jack Luff for a duck soon after, and Brad Ashfield fell for just five to Tom Fursland.

Nuttycombe looked in excellent touch until he was caught at mid-wicket off the bowling of Tom Ford, two runs short of a half-century, but Neil Chadwick and Tom Gooding looked to rebuild the innings with sensible batting.

Chadwick (18) and Kev Crockett (five) were both trapped lbw by Max O'Farell to leave L&B 180-6, before CJ Neate and Gooding began to accelerate.

Neate was timing the ball nicely but, after Gooding was bowled by Fursland for 27, was caught at mid-wicket off Hill for a hard-hitting 38.

However, Andy Taylor and Matt Grute produced some lusty blows late on to score 25 apiece as the innings closed on 298-8.

Neate bowled Hayden Standerwick off his pads in the first over of Bridgwater's reply, but O'Farell and Fursland dug in to take the total into three figures despite disciplined spells by Taylor (0-33) and Neate (1-26).

Chadwick had O'Farell (30) caught at mid-wicket by Jack Luff and bowled Ford without scoring, before Fursland and Hill pushed the total towards 200.

Crockett trapped Fursland (49) lbw, before Chadwick had Hill (42) caught low down by Nuttycombe at mid-wicket, as Bridgwater focused on securing maximum batting points.

And Chadwick (4-44) trapped captain Scott Sealey (23) lbw to finish a fine spell, before Crockett (2-47) had Ben Goddard caught on the run by Neate as Bridgwater closed on 216-7.

Chadwick took the Lympsham Concrete man of the match award for a fine bowling effort, after Nuttycombe and Crockett also impressed.

And the 32-point win saw L&B leapfrog their rivals into sixth place, with four games remaining ahead of a trip to third-placed Temple Cloud on Saturday.